NOTICE OF INTENT TO AWARD SOLE SOURCE

The United States Air Force (the Government) intends to issue a Firm-Fixed-Price Purchase order to a single source, Elsevier, under the authority of FAR 13.106-1(b)(1)(i) (only one source reasonably available) on or about 01 January 2023. The period of performance (PoP) is estimated to be from Date of Award – 31 December 2023.

FSC: 7A21

NAICS: 519210

Size Standard: 21 MIL

Subscription name: ScienceDirect Subscription Databases

Supplier name: Elsevier

Product description: ScienceDirect is a web portal which provides access to a large bibliographic and full-text database of scientific and medical publications of the British-Dutch publisher Elsevier. It hosts over 18 million pieces of content from more than 4,000 academic eJournals and 30,000 eBooks of this publisher. The Freedom Collection is available to ScienceDirect Complete customers only and offers access to additional non-subscribed Elsevier journal content at a significantly reduced rate.

Product characteristics an equal item must meet to be considered:

• Full-text online access (where applicable) to journal articles in the ScienceDirect subject categories, in either downloadable PDF or HTML format (PDF is preferred).
• All graphical figures and citations of the original full-text article must be available within the digital document (object) that stands for that article.
• Search interface that includes numerous primary categories and ability to perform keyword and other specialized topical queries for effective searches.
• Individual account creation for saved searches and alerts.
• Subscription is able to provide access to multiple users via IP authentication (institutional multi-user, campus subscription).
• Librarian-accessible COUNTER-compliant usage data for searches and downloads.
• Multiple language translations of content.

The Government will consider responses received within 3 days of issuance of this notice. Information received will normally be considered solely for the purpose of determining whether or not to conduct a full and open competitive procurement or a small business set aside competitive procurement. The Government will not pay for any information received in response to this announcement.

If the Government competes this requirement, a synopsis shall be issued utilizing the combined synopsis/solicitation procedure identified in FAR 12.603. If this effort becomes a Small Business Set-Aside, FAR 52.219-14, Limitation on Subcontracting, will apply. Therefore, small businesses that want to be considered for a small business set-aside should demonstrate how they intend to comply.

A determination not to compete this requirement based upon responses to this notice is an administrative decision by the Government that is solely within its discretion.

Contractors should be aware of the following information:

1. Contractors must include the following information:

a. Points of contact, addresses, email addresses, phone numbers.

b. Identification as a large U.S. business, a small U.S. business, or a foreign business. Please note that size indicated should be based on the NAICS code for this effort listed above.

c. Identification of any other socioeconomic status including: Women-Owned Small Business, Economically Disadvantaged Small Business, 8(a), Service Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business, Veteran Owned Small Business or HUBZone.

d. Company CAGE Code or UEI Number.

2. In your response, you must address how your product meets the product characteristics specified above.

3. Submitted information shall be UNCLASSIFIED.

4. Responses are limited to of 10 pages in a Microsoft Word compatible format.

Any information submitted by respondents to this sources sought synopsis is strictly voluntary. The Government will not reimburse the respondents for any costs associated with their response. This synopsis does not constitute a Request for Proposals nor does its issuance restrict the Government as to its ultimate acquisition approach. The Government reserves the right to contact the submitting parties, on an as required basis, for further clarification on material provided. Respondents should not construe this notice as a commitment by the Air Force for any purpose.

Responses should be emailed to Melissa Sanders at melissa.sanders.5@us.af.mil and Kerisha Wordlaw at kerisha.wordlaw.1@us.af.mil no later than 26 January 2023 at 12:00 PM EST. Any questions should be directed to Melissa Sanders through email.

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